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Videos

“A Future Without Waste,” A video from Lego® in the Build the Change series. This is a great way to teach Circular Design to Kids.

“The Story of Stuff,” concisely explains the linear economy for teens and adults.

“Explaining the Circular Economy and How Society Can Re-think Progress,” by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This animated video explains the idea of how to transition to a circular economy.

Books

McDonough, William and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things. North Point Press, 2002.

Cord Stier, Samuel, Engineering Education for the Next Generation: A Nature-Inspired Approach. WW Norton & Co. 2020.

Benyus, Janine. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Harper Perennial, 2002.

Braungart, Michael and William McDonough.

Bakker, Conny, Marcel den Hollander, Ed van Hinte and Yvo Zijlstra. Products that Last; Product Design for Circular Business Models. BIS Publishers, 2019.

Webster, Ken. The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows - 2nd edition. Ellen MacArthur Foundation Publishing, 2017.

Teaching Circular Design

iFixit is a library of ideas on designing for repair, teaching repair, and advocating for the right to repair.

Ask Nature is a library of design ideas to inspire biomimicry projects. Recommended for teacher lesson design.

Making Inspired by Nature: Solutions for Nature Powered Learning. Gives a series of lesson plans for K-5 educators to try biomimicry design in the classroom.

Circular Design Guide. A rich resource designed for higher education classrooms that provides models, case studies, glossary, videos, and other resources. Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Design and Technology for a Circular Economy: Teacher’s Guide. Ellen MacAurthur Foundation and Design and Technology Association. 2012. Directed to university and pre-university teachers.

Climate Solutions 101 by Project Drawdown. Provides a variety of solution-oriented examples that can inspire circular design challenges.

Skills for the Circular Economy, UNESCO. An in-depth approach to how education will need to prepare students for the circular economy future.

Closing the Skills Gap: Vocational Education and Training for the Circular Economy. The Circle Economy website takes an overview of how to give students the skills of the future.

Circular Economy Research Articles

World Economic Forum. Here’s What’s Needed to Build a Circular Economy. Jan 21, 2022.

Henrique Sala Benites, Paul Osmond and Deo Prasad, A Future-Proof Built Environment through Regenerative and Circular Lenses—Delphi Approach for Criteria Selection. Sustainability. 2023, 15(1), 616; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010616

Chatziparaskeva G, Papamichael I, Voukkali I, Loizia P, Sourkouni G, Argirusis C, Zorpas AA. End-of-Life of Composite Materials in the Framework of the Circular Economy. Microplastics. 2022; 1(3):377-392. https://doi.org/10.3390/microplastics1030028

Peck, David, Prabhu Kandachar and Erik Tempelman. Critical Materials from a Product Design Perspective. Journal of Materials and Design, Vol. 65, p 147–159, 2015.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Towards a Circular Economy; Volumes 1, 2 and 3 Executive Summary, 2015.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future, 2017.

Jeremy Faludi, Leyla Acaroglu, Paul Gardien, Ana Rapela, Deborah Sumter, Cindy Cooper,

Sustainability in the Future of Design Education, She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 9, Issue 2, 2023, Pages 157-178, ISSN 2405-8726, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2023.04.004

Koppius, Otto, Öznur Özdemir-Akyildirim and Erwin van der Laan. Business Value from Closed-Loop Supply Chains. International Journal of Supply Chain Management, Vol. 3, Nr 4, p 107-120, 2014.

Tukker, Arnold. Eight Types of Product-Service System: Eight Ways to Sustainability? Experiences from Suspronet. Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol.13, p 246-260, 2004.

Bakker, Conny and Marcel den Hollander. Six Design Strategies for Longer lasting Products in Circular Economy. Guardian Sustainable Business, 2013.

Nasr, Nabil and Michael Thurston. Remanufacturing: A Key Enabler to Sustainable Product Systems. Proceedings of the 13th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, p 15-18, 2006.

Graedel, Tom, E., Elizabeth M. Harper, Nedal T. Nassar and Barbara K. Reck. On the Materials Basis of Modern Society. PNAS, p 1–6, 2013.

Espinoza, Luis T., Dieuwertje Schrijvers, Wei-Qiang Chen, et al. Greater Circularity Leads to Lower Criticality, and Other Links Between Criticality and the Circular Economy. Journal of Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 159, 2020

United Nations University - Institute for Environmental and Human Security, “Interconnected Risks: Executive Summary,” 2023.

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Nothing in nature is wasted. It all flows back into a big system and becomes food for something else. What if humans could build like this?

That would be a circular economy.

The circular economy contrasts itself with the linear model of production and consumption.

We know that we can decouple economic growth from resource consumption. Advanced economies have been doing this for some time: producing more while consuming less. The circular economy seeks to accelerate those gains intentionally and by design.

The circular economy identifies three types of loops that can create cycling flows of energy and materials: the design loop, the biological loop, and the technical loop. To close those loops, a circular economy needs to:

• Eliminate waste and pollution

• Keep things in use longer

• Regenerate natural systems.

  

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